CAPE and GEM and a few parent activists were few voices heard
Check back for updates and links to other stories later
"Where is the UFT?" was a constant refrain we heard last night from reporters and even from some of Klein's Tweedies. Good question as the massive charter school outpouring of parents imprinted an anti public school message, with lots of teacher bashing.
The biggest message left to every public school teacher and parent who supports public schools and every political operative there last night was the utter failure of the UFT, the only agent capable of standing up. But that is nothing new as the UFT did nothing for this meeting, feeling I guess it had done enough on Jan. 26.
There is a lot to say about the contrast between the Jan. 26 and Feb. 24 PEP meetings. The former dominated by the pro public school debate, with the enormous booing of Joel Klein
Ed Notes was handed out at the UFT Delegate Assembly on Wed. Feb. 24 warning them that their presence was needed to counter the massive charter school outpouring at the Feb. PEP. Mulgrew's pathetic response was that he wanted to end the meeting by 6 so people who wanted to go can leave. Useless. They needed to be there at 4. The entire DA should have convened in front of Fashion Industries HS. I'm including the Ed Notes pdf below.
In some ways there was joy in hearing the very people who cheered Joel Klein last night, in contrast to the massive booing he received on Jan. 26, made a strong impression that the schools he was in charge of were not up to the level of charter schools he is pushing. I thought there was great irony in that parent after parent talked about the failures their children faced in his schools.
I left around 10 and the meeting went till 12. There are reports surfacing of the meeting and I am processing some video to post here later in the day of the wonderful statements made by CAPEers, and parents Lisa Donlan and Khem Irby.
Ed Notes Feb 2010
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